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GBT Operations & Commissioning Meeting

26 January 2007

AGENDA

• Upcoming Activities -- Carl
• Az Track, Antennae Report -- Bob
• Observing News -- Ron
• Scheduling Status -- Carl
• Microwave Electronics Status -- Roger
• Digital Electronics Status -- Randy
• Software Status -- Amy
• PTCS -- PTCS team
• Pulsar Related -- Scott
• MIT/LL 43m Project -- Glen
• Any other Business

Upcoming Activities -- Carl

Az Track, Antennae Report -- Bob

• • Bob and Dennis have been on the road again, this time to Gadsden, AL to inspect the first machined wear plates. They are coming along well, now being produced at the rate of one per day. Material properties look very good.
  • Continental has also made it over another hurdle with the base plates this week, as they have two sets welded that are within tolerance for final machining. We will inspect the first fully completed set either late next week or early the following week.
  • We and others are also planning the field work.

Observing News -- Ron

We supported 20 projects in 30 observing sessions. The telescope was scheduled for 12.5 hrs of maintenance. The weather was the big storey this week with regards to lost time. I'm now breaking up lost time into 3 categories:

• Weather (Total: 15.1 hrs / 9.7%)
  • Snow removal (4 instances) : 5.7 hrs
  • Winds (6 instances): 4.7 hrs
  • Snow (8 instances): 4.7 hrs
• Observer (Total: 0.1 hrs, 0%)
  • Late Observer : 0.1 hrs
• NRAO (Total: 2.4 hrs / 1.5%)
  • Auto Peak Focus @ PF2 : 0.9 hrs
  • Astrid Lockups (4 instances) : 0.6 hrs
  • Spigot/EDT : 0.3 hrs
  • Active Surface : 0.2 hrs
  • Spectrometer : 0.2 hrs
  • GFM/LPC's (5 instances) : 0.1 hrs
  • Extended Maintenance : 0.1 hrs
  • Others (Spectral Processor, SDFITS, Scan Coord) : 0.1 hrs

The Spigot/EDT problem was discussed at last week's meeting. AutoPeakFocus? seemed to be confused and was setting the wrong initial parameters for a focus. It also picked a source that was too weak.

Scheduling Status -- Carl

Last Week
=========

Observations for proposals
   GBT07A-074, BG169     , GBT07A-001, 
   GBT06B-044, GBT06B-034, GBT07A-036, 
   GBT06C-012, GBT06A-004, GBT06B-036, 
   GBT07A-104, GBT06C-058, GBT06C-038, 
   GBT06C-016, GBT05C-026, GBT06C-017, 
   GBT07A-009, GBT05C-027, GBT06C-039, 
   GBT01A-005

Completed proposals
   GBT06A-004, GBT06C-039, GBT01A-005

Next Week
=========
Observations scheduled for **
  GBT07A-074 [ P ] Jack Hewitt
       Follow-Up of Radio Recomb Lines Associated with   
       Supernova Remnants                                
  GBT07A-098 [F B] Fernando Camilo
       Studying the magnetar XTE J1810-197               
  BG169      [F  ] Lincoln Greenhill
       Mapping the Accretion disks in the IC2560 and     
       NGC3393 AGN: Implications for Ho                  
  GBT07A-001 [F B] Alberto Bolatto
       A Search for HI Absorbers in a Sample of          
       Gravitationally Lensed Systems                    
  GBT07A-036 [  B] Yi-nan Chin
       Confirmation of Interstellar Benzonitrile         
       (C6H5CN) -- A Key Tracer of Benzene               
  GBT07A-003 [F B] Vincent Fish
       Probing circumstellar envelopes with isotopomers  
  GBT06B-034 [  B] Jacqueline van Gorkom
       Galaxy evolution in groups: HI properties of 80   
       2dfGRS-selected groups                            
  GBT07A-015 [ PB] Jeff Mangum
       Formaldehyde Densitometry of External Galaxies    
  GBT06B-024 [ P ] Jeff Mangum
       CCS Chronometry of Dense Cores                    
  GBT06C-012 [  B] Steve Curran
       A Wide-Band Search of the Source of the           
       Obscuration of Reddened Quasars                   
  BB229      [F  ] Andreas Brunthaler
       Measuring the orbits of M81 and M82               
  GBT02A-054 [  B] Ingrid Stairs

       High-resolution Studies of a Precessing Pulsar    
  GBT06B-036 [ P ] Jim Jackson
       Pre-stellar evolution in Infrared Dark Cloud Cores
  GBT07A-104 [  B] Peter Martin
       The Spider's Web from Ursa Major to Polaris       
  GBT06B-015 [ P ] Larry Morgan
       NH3 and CCS Mapping of Triggered Star Formation   
       Regions                                           
  GBT06C-037 [ P ] Charlie Lada
       Probing the Origin of Dense Cores and the Stellar 
       IMF                                               
  GBT06C-004 [ P ] Tony Remijan
       A Search for o-Benzyne (o-C6H4) and Phenyl (C6H5) 
       toward CRL 618                                    
  GBT05C-037 [F  ] Nissim Kanekar
       Measuring changes in fundamental constants with   
       redshifted OH  lines                              
  GBT06C-038 [F  ] Jay Lockman
       GBT Mapping of HI Clouds in the Disk-Halo         
       Interface                                         
  GBT06C-016 [F  ] Fernando Camilo
       Studying the magnetar XTE J1810-197               
  GBT05C-027 [ P ] Jeff Mangum
       An Exact Identification of High Densities in      
       Molecular Clouds                                  
  GBT07A-009 [F  ] D.J. Pisano
       HI Emission from Gravitationally Lensed Galaxies  
       at z~0.5                                          
** Scheduled as F-ixed, P-rimary, B-ackup

Contact Information for 02/08/2007 - 02/22/2007
=======================================
Proposal   PI                 Bands Email [NRAO contact]    
---------- ------------------ ----- --------------------
GBT07A-063 Amanda Kepley      L     kepley@astro.wisc.edu [Toney Minter]
GBT07A-030 Brian Mason        X     bmason@nrao.edu [Brian Mason]
GBT07A-074 Jack Hewitt        X     j-hewitt@northwestern.edu [Ron Maddalena]
GBT07A-031 Jim Braatz         K     jbraatz@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT07A-020 Scott Schnee       K     schnee@astro.caltech.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT07A-098 Fernando Camilo    S     fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06A-053 Scott Ransom       S     sransom@nrao.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06C-051 Lincoln Greenhill  K     greenhill@cfa.harvard.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT06C-052 Scott Ransom       S     sransom@nrao.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT07A-034 Jim Braatz         K     jbraatz@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT07A-089 Fernando Camilo    8     fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06B-032 Steve Begin        S     sbegin@physics.ubc.ca [Scott Ransom]
GBT07A-001 Alberto Bolatto    L     bolatto@astro.berkeley.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT06C-020 Rachel Friesen     K     rfriesen@uvastro.phys.uvic.ca [Toney Minter]
GBT06A-056 Paul Kondratko     K     pkondrat@cfa.harvard.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT06B-044 Robert Ferdman     L     ferdman@phas.ubc.ca [Scott Ransom]
GBT06B-033 Jason Hessels      8     jhessels@science.uva.nl [Scott Ransom]
GBT07A-036 Yi-nan Chin        C     einmann@astro.phys.tku.edu.tw [Jim Braatz]
GBT05C-043 Nissim Kanekar     Q     nkanekar@nrao.edu [Dana Balser]
GBT07A-015 Jeff Mangum        C     jmangum@nrao.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT07A-048 Larry Rudnick      L     larry@astro.umn.edu [Toney Minter]
GBT07A-104 Peter Martin       L     pgmartin@cita.utoronto.ca [Jay Lockman]
GBT06C-035 Jim Braatz         K     jbraatz@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT07A-016 Jennifer Donovan   L     jen@astro.columbia.edu [Frank Ghigo]
BB227      Jim Braatz         K     jbraatz@nrao.edu []
GBT06C-003 Tony Remijan       K     aremijan@nrao.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT06C-037 Charlie Lada       K     clada@cfa.harvard.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT06C-048 Nissim Kanekar     8     nkanekar@nrao.edu [Toney Minter]
BM253      Emmanuel Momjian   L     emomjian@naic.edu []
GBT06C-049 Karen Masters      L     kmasters@cfa.harvard.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT06B-028 Ingrid Stairs      L     istairs@astro.ubc.ca [Scott Ransom]
GBT07A-080 Maura McLaughlin   3     maura.mclaughlin@mail.wvu.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06B-018 Michael Kramer     8     mkramer@jb.man.ac.uk [Scott Ransom]
GBT05C-027 Jeff Mangum        QUB   jmangum@nrao.edu [Dana Balser]
GBT06C-028 Brenda Matthews    K     brenda.matthews@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca [Ron Maddalena]
GBT03C-028 Fabian Walter      Q     walter@mpia.de [Dana Balser]

Scheduled hours [backup]
========================
Category/Month-> January   February  March     April     
    Astronomy ~  631 [067] 572 [470] 622 [558] 607 [309] 
  Maintenance ~   62 [004]  35 [047]  41 [059]  32 [051] 
  Test & Comm ~   51 [004]  65 [024]  60 [025]  42 [008] 
     Shutdown ~    0         0         0        14       
  Un-assigned ~    0         2        28        29       

Proposal Checkouts
==================
Awaiting checkout - 27
  Active checkout - 2
          On Hold - 16
         Schedule - 71
        Completed - 594


Current backlog [hours prior to 06C*] = 688
   [2002:0(4), 2003:19(1), 2004:75(21), 2005:446(22), 2006:148(13)]
Total time to discharge [hours] = 3455
   Includes 993 hours of monitoring after trimester 06C
   Includes 770 hours during Track Refurbishment
* Includes projects that are on hold for trimester 06C

Microwave Electronics Status -- Roger

Design work continues for the C-band integrated receiver package. The PCBs are scheduled to be delivered on Feb 16. The housing drawings were completed and released to the shop for fab.

Work on PF1 continued. The 340MHz cryo amp was replaced. Phase balancing for circular polarization and functional testing nears completion. Thermal cals are to be done but things are on track for installation next week.

Two of the updated Converter Module detector boards have been assembled, and testing waits for housings to be completed.

Bench testing of a two-channel IF system for the Lab Spectrometer nears completion, and we expect to be testing it with the spectrometer in the next couple of weeks.

Digital Electronics Status -- Randy

Digital Group Status 20-JAN-07 THRU 26-JAN-07

***Operations, Problem Summary***

No problems to report this week.

Active Surface Maintenance...

No work was done on the Active Surface this week.

***Development***

Caltech Continuum Backend (CCB)...

• Brian Mason's tests of CCB #3 were successful and the unit has now been released as a fully-functional backup. Units #1 and #3 are in our lab, while unit #2 is still on the GBT.
• Our new 90 CFM fan was received and installed in CCB #1. Preliminary tests indicate that this fan drops the operating temperature of the PC-104 board stack's CPU chip by about 10 degrees F. On the strength of these findings, we've ordered more 90 CFM fans and intend to retrofit all three units.

Spectrometer LTA Re-design...

In the interest of improved manufacturability and reliability, a decision was made to create a version of the FPGA Adapter PCBA which eliminates the series resistors and increases the PLCC 84 solder lands to a size consistent with IPC recommendations. The process of modifying the design should be complete by 02-FEB-07.

New Pulsar Backend...

Owing to the bad weather, it was decided to postpone our design review until a later date which is yet to be determined.

ALMA...

On-going efforts are continuing fairly smoothly on the ALMA front.

MISCELLANEOUS...

The Science Center's fire alarm system has been operating 24/7 without false alarms for two weeks now. It would seem that this issue has been resolved, so no further reports will be forthcoming unless the situation changes.

***Plans***

• Complete revisions to the LTA FPGA adapter PCB...
• Continue ALMA efforts as required...

Randy

Software Status -- Amy

We are in week four of the first development cycle of 2007 which can be viewed at PlanOfRecordC12007. We are scheduled to release 14 February 2007.

We have two dates for integration tests: 6 or 8 Feb., 1630 to 2030, and 7 Feb, 1845 to 2245. In addition, we have regression testing scheduled for the 9th, 1800 to midnight. We are also reserving some maintenance days to serve as test time in order to ensure the smooth release of 7.1. We also performed testing on the new version on Thursday, January 25th as a precursor to the integration tests because this release involves many changes accumulated over several cycles of effort.

Operational and user support was relatively light this week and included:

• Responded to Spigot failures from Astrid which was tracked down to the existance of multiple invocations of spigot_takedata on spigot2.
• Investigated and fixed bug in dish calibration reported by GBT user.

Modification Requests:

• MRs ready for integration/regression testing:
  • Change scaling for the Autocorrelation Spectra in the Spectrometer (ModificationRequest6C706)
  • GFM/Turtle Upgrade - Remove use of LPCs.conf file (ModificationRequest4C706)
  • Investigate & Fix Cause of Astrid Hang-ups (ModificationRequest9C706)
  • Modify SDFITS and aips++ to correctly process Spectrometer cross-polarization data (ModificationRequest2C706)
  • Change GO fits file so that RA is in degrees (ModificationRequest15C705)
• MRs ready for sponsor testing:
  • GBTIDL Changes necessary in support of related sdfits tool changes (ModificationRequest8C706)
• MRs under development
  • SDFits Changes - Add target position and HIGH_CAL keywords to sdfits and other requested sdfits changes (ModificationRequest3C706)
    • 90% done. The -timestamp argument needs to be finished (infrastructure done by Paul), the bad-lags for xcorr data change needs to be done (should be done by January 26).
  • Develop New Pointing Pre-Processing Application (ModificationRequest5C706)
    • Continuing to test newly added mean error calculations for curve fitting methods, specifically for focus scans.
• MRs under CCC review:
  • Extract Sampler Information from Log Files & Create Antenna Characterization Database (ModificationRequest3C107)
  • Configuration Tool: Modify Default IF Target Levels (ModificationRequest1C107)
  • Configuration Tool: Default Value Changes (ModificationRequest4C806)
  • Add Two New ScanTypes: FivePoint and Circle (ModificationRequest1C706)
• MRs being written:
  • Update GFM Tsys Calculation for the Spectral Line Plugin (ModificationRequest4C107)
  • Fix SCCU Year Handling (ModificationRequest11C107)
  • SCCU Servo Changes (ModificationRequest1C806)
    • Although the code is working, we have found that commanded velocity spikes occur during normal observing. To date this has not been a problem since the hardware filters out the spikes. However with the hardware modifications coupled with this MR, the spikes will corrupt the intended operation of the friction compensation. John is working on modeling a different methods of deriving the velocity commands.
• Other Activities:
  • Dynamic Scheduling - Paul and Mike are describing opportunities for common ground between BOS and DSS. Jan 26, will meet to work on requirements in new style. Amy and Melinda are working on a requirements document. Additionally, DanaBalser and Jim Condon are expanding draft versions of two memos: "Weather Characterization and Stringency for the GBT" and "Scientific Requirements for Dynamic Scheduling". We sent an email to gbstaff soliciting comments on the Dynamic Scheduling Overview. Please read it and send your comments to KarenONeil and AmyShelton before the end of the month.
  • Complete Pointing Processing Description Memo - No progress this week.

PTCS -- PTCS team

• Project Management
  • John, Todd, and Richard met on Friday of last week to look at the recent progress of the project and try to identify areas that we should concentrate on. Our efforts are reflected in the PTCS planning page http://wiki.gb.nrao.edu/bin/view/PTCS/PTCSProjectPlan which is under construction. Comments welcome. There are not really any new directions here, just a consolidation of lots of loose ends that are floating around.
• Engineering
  • Work continues at a low level on identifying and fixing causes of command stream glitches.
  • LRF work continues
  • Planning for servo testing was carried out. We will be ready to use whatever time we get to test the friction compensation.
• Astronomy

Pulsar Related -- Scott

MIT/LL 43m Project -- Glen

Any other Business